Sherdog.com’s Pound-for-Pound Top 10

Urijah
Faber couldn’t, Kenny
Florian couldn’t, and now we can cross Frankie
Edgar’s name off the list, as well. At UFC 156, Aldo retained
his title and maintained his stranglehold on the featherweight
division by outlasting the former lightweight ace in a fun
five-round affair. Although Edgar came on strong in the
championship rounds, Aldo showed resilience along with precision
striking that left its mark on Edgar’s face and legs. Fortunately,
unlike middleweight counterpart Anderson
Silva, Aldo is still relatively early in his career and his
division has a wealth of talent -- Chan Sung
Jung and Ricardo
Lamas, to name but two -- for him to contend with.

With his third straight loss, longtime pound-for-pounder Edgar
falls from the rankings, making way for top 10 newcomer Joseph
Benavidez. Having built his impressive resume in the WEC
bantamweight division, Benavidez has now become one of the UFC’s
premier flyweights, announcing his arrival last spring with a
clobbering of Japanese champion Yasuhiro
Urushitani. Despite failing in his bid to become Zuffa’s
inaugural 125-pound titleholder, a Feb. 2 win over Ian McCall has
put Benavidez right back where he needs to be: in prime position
for a rematch with the man who beat him, current flyweight boss
Demetrious
Johnson.

Nearly four months after his dismantling of an overmatched Stephan
Bonnar, we are not much closer to knowing when the world’s top
fighter will return to the cage. Silva was already expected to take
a large part of 2013 off, a matter complicated further by the
recent losses of potential opponents Michael
Bisping and Rashad
Evans. Still, there are a few possibilities remaining for the
man who has all but cleaned out the UFC’s 185-pound division, and
the top choice at present seems to be unbeaten wrestler Chris
Weidman, who UFC President Dana White recently said could be
next for “The Spider.”

The welterweight division’s French Canadian king finally came off
the shelf in November after a frustrating 18-month layoff. Showing
no signs of the knee injury that had kept him from the cage, GSP
got right back to his old ways, sweeping interim champion Carlos
Condit in a five-round affair to unify the UFC’s 170-pound
belts. For a moment, Zuffa seemed dead-set on getting St. Pierre
and fellow pound-for-pound luminary Silva together for a
mega-fight; instead, GSP’s next bout will be a long-anticipated
fight against former Strikeforce titlist Nick Diaz at
UFC 158.

The light heavyweight king has answered all challenges during a
dominant title reign, most recently taking out Vitor
Belfort at UFC 152 in September. Once his coaching stint
opposite Chael Sonnen
on “The Ultimate Fighter 17” runs its course on FX, “Bones” will
defend his strap against the outspoken wrestler in the UFC 159 main
event on April 27. If Jones vanquishes Sonnen as expected, it
figures to be an interesting second half of 2013 for the Jackson’s
Mixed Martial Arts member, with a wide array of potential opponents
looming, including lucrative cross-divisional bouts against the
likes of Daniel
Cormier or Anderson Silva.

Aldo’s 2012 was hampered by injuries, both to the featherweight ace
and his potential opponents, but Nova Uniao’s top pupil got 2013
off to a good start at UFC 156. In one of his toughest matchups to
date, Aldo was taken the distance by former lightweight champion
Frankie Edgar, who made his 145-pound debut a memorable one by
keeping the pressure on the Brazilian in the championship rounds.
Ultimately, Aldo retained his title by unanimous decision, keeping
his Octagon record flawless and moving his winning streak to 15 in
a row. Provided he can stay healthy, there will be plenty to keep
Aldo busy in the coming year, including potential matchups with
Anthony
Pettis and Chan Sung Jung.

After claiming and defending the UFC lightweight title in a pair of
hotly contested wins over Frankie Edgar, Henderson left little
doubt in his latest defense. Before an audience of millions on
network TV, Henderson grounded, pounded and ultimately took a
unanimous decision over top contender Nate Diaz.
Henderson’s recent run at 155 pounds has given him one of the
strongest records in all of MMA, but there is no time for “Smooth”
to rest on his laurels. Next up: a long-anticipated showdown
against Strikeforce lightweight champion -- and fellow
pound-for-pound rankings resident -- Gilbert
Melendez in the UFC on Fox 7 headliner.

Henderson’s unceremonious knee injury at least temporarily put the
brakes on his improbable three-division run past the age of 40.
Despite White’s recent statements about a slow recovery, the former
Pride Fighting Championships and Strikeforce titleholder insists he
is healthy and on schedule for a February return. Henderson may
have lost his crack at Jones to occasional training partner Sonnen,
but the Olympian still believes he is on target for a high-stakes
Feb. 23 date against former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto
Machida.

Melendez’s on-again, off-again Strikeforce lightweight title
defense against Pat Healy was
rescheduled for the company’s final show on Jan. 12. One problem:
Melendez’s knee injury still was not healed, forcing him off the
show. However, we now get what the world really craves: Melendez
against top 10, elite lightweights on a fight-in, fight-out basis.
The Cesar
Gracie product makes his Octagon debut in April against
reigning 155-pound champion Benson Henderson at UFC on Fox 7. It
has been a long time coming.

In a division historically thin on high-level talent, it is easier
to earn consideration as an all-time great. That is not to say
Velasquez has had a easy run in his nearly five-year UFC stint,
which has seen him dispose of Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira, Brock
Lesnar and Antonio
Silva. What’s more, on Dec. 29, the wrestler from Arizona State
University avenged the only blemish on his record by laying waste
to Junior dos Santos in a 25-minute rout.

As we begin to wonder what various pound-for-pound greats might
look like fighting a weight class above the one they dominate,
Johnson is becoming one of the few truly successful fighters to
actually fulfill the “drop a weight class and dominate”
expectation. Johnson remained unbeaten at flyweight and established
himself as a champion with staying power at UFC on Fox 6. In front
of a national television audience, “Mighty Mouse” survived the
knockout power of John Dodson
early, then had plenty left in reserve for the championship rounds
to close out a unanimous decision victory in his first 125-pound
title defense.

For years, while he toiled and overachieved at 135 pounds, MMA fans
and pundits said that Benavidez had the potential to be the best
flyweight fighter in the world. With the 125-pound class now
installed in the UFC, the 28-year-old Team Alpha Male
representative is doing his best to prove them right. Despite
falling to Demetrious Johnson in a close September five-rounder for
the UFC flyweight belt, Benavidez is already back in title
contention after outworking former divisional ruler Ian McCall in
a unanimous decision at UFC 156.

With his Feb. 2 loss to Jose Aldo, previously seventh-ranked
Frankie Edgar exits the top 10.